Portable graveling equipment



Aug. 19, 1941. L A. LAYNE PORTABLE GRAVELING EQUIPMENT Filed llay 31,1938 ZSheets-Sheet 1 I L.A. LAYNE 1 im INVENTOR ATTORNEYS.

Aug. 19, 1941. L. A. LAYNE I PORTABLE GRAVELING EQUIPMENT Filed May 31,1938' 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 L.A.LAYNE INVENTOR fl- A BY 10AM M 1 A TTORNEYS.

Patented Aug. 19, 1941;

PORTABLE GRAV EL IN G EQUIPMENT Leslie A. Layne, Houston, 'I ex.,assignor to, The Texas Company, a corporation of Delaware ApplicationMay 31, i938, Serial No. 210,967

1 Claim.

The invention relates to a portable graveling equipment which isparticularly adapted for the introduction of gravel or similar materialsinto well bores by means of the circulation of a carrier liquid.

The present application refers to my prior pending applications 729,025and 729,026, both filed on June 4, 1934, which applications are in turncontinuations in part of the parent appli-' the pump through the Anotherobject of the invention is to provide a portable gravelling device which.is self-containedin that all of the equipment necessary to hoist andtransfer the gravel under pressure is arranged in a unitary assembly.

Still another-object of the invention is to provide an arrangement ofgravel drums wherein one drum can be filled and subjected to pressureready to discharge its gravel while the alternate drum is beingdischarged,

Still another object of the invention is to provide an arrangement ofgravel drums and pipin connections therefor so that carrier liquid maybe introduced and discharged from the gravel drums and the circulationof liquid so controlled that any desired volume of gravel may be carriedalong with the liquid.

Other and further objects of the invention will be readily apparent whenthe following description is considered in connection with theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

' be by-passed from the pipe Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the truck inposition ready to conduct the graveling operations.

Fig. 2 is a broken detailed view looking at the piping and valvecontrols on the forward side of the gravel drums.

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 3' 3 of Fig. 2 andshowing a sectional view of the inlet and discharge of the gravel drum.

Fig.4 is a sectional view showingthe closuremechanism at the top of thedrum.-

In Fig. l, the truck is illustrated generally at 2 and may be of anydesired type, size or style so long as it is arranged with a powertake-off 3 for driving the sprocket wheel 4.

The sprocket 4 drives the chain 5 and through a train of gears rotatesthe drive wheel 6 of the pump 1. The pump 1 may be of any desired type,

' valve I1 will be wide open and and discharged from the drum into thewe The carrier liquid which a flow of liquid is discharged into the pipe8. The suction pipe 9 draws liquid from a suitable source. A

Fig. 2 shows an-enlarged view of the parts'in the rear of the truck andthepipe 8 is illustrated upon the floor l2 of the truck. v

The pipe 8 extends rearwardly and is then turned upward at It and hasthe flexible hose [5 connected therewith and through which hose eitherliquid or gravel and liquid may be discharged into the well bore whichis not shown.

A direct flow of liquid may be circulated from pipes 8 and I5 by openingthe valves l6 and I! on the pipes 8 and II respectively, or if desired aflow of liquid under pressure may be supplied through the branch 18on'the pipe 8 from any source of pressure it the pump 1 is not to be--used.. Both sources may-be used if desired.

In operation, filled with gravel as it is usual to wash the well bycirculating liquid through the pipe l5. During this operation the if theliquid is coming from the pump 1 the valve I6 will be open. It is nowdesired to apply pressure to the drum assuming that the drum 20 20 andthe valve IS in the pipe 28 will be opened The valve 32 in the dischargepipe 3.0 will also be fully opened. In this manner the same pressurethat is in the pipes ll and '15 will be applied to the drum. in order,however, to force someof the liquid through the drum 20 the controlvalve ll will now be partly closed. Any restriction in the valve ll willcause the liquid to [4 through pipe 23 and through the drum 20 backthrough pipe 30 into the pipe [5 beyond the valve l'l. .Thus bymanipulation of a single valve the operator can control the percentageof flow which will be wide.

passed through the drum and consequently the will be picked up Byopening the valves l9 and 32 fully, it is only necessary to manipulatethe one valve II to obtain a very accurate and delicate control. Theappli-- cation of pressure to the drum 20 will be available againsttheclosure 21 so as to force it into'sealing position with the top ofthe drum so that the applied pressure will be used to discharge thegravel.

rate of flow at which the gravel the drum 20 near the base 24 thereof asbest seen in Fig.3.

Thedischarge of the. carrier liquid into the will hereinafter beexplained.

from the inlet pipe 23 enters gravel in the drum 20 will cause anagitation of the gravel so that it is suspended in spaced relation inthe carrier liquid as indicated in the judge the volume of gravel beingdischarged bythe tone or soundof the gravel passing through the pipe l5.

It is this regulation of the carrier liquid, its pressure and volumethat accomplishes a satisfactory operation of this equipment in carryingthe gravel in spaced relationship inthe carrier liquid.

The closure for the top of the drum is best seen in Fig. 4 and includesthe closure member 21 which is pivoted upon a lever member 40 which isin turn pivoted on the flange 42. This flange is fastened to the top 43of the drum by a plurality of bolts 44. A slot 45 in. the flange 42permits pivoting of the lever 40 and if desired a catch 46 may bearranged to engage a hook 41 on the top of the drum so that the closure21 may be latched in closed position to hold it temporarily in placeuntil pressure is applied to the drum so as to move the edge 48 of theclosure into engagement with the seal 49 on the flange 42.

The piping and valves as applied to the drum 2| on the left hand side ofFig. 2 are the same as just described for the drum 20 and it seemsobvious that by manipulation of first one drum and then the other thatthey may be alternately used so that one drum may be discharging throughthe hose l5 into the well while the other drum is open, the pressurereleased and the gravel being introduced. Attention is directed to thefact that the control valves are positioned at an elevation above thegrave1 drums so that they will not become clogged.

- It is of course desirable to hoist the gravel so that it may beintroduced into the drums and to accomplish this a hopper 50 has beenshown in Fig. 1 as arranged to be lowered to the ground so that it maybe readily filled with gravel. The frame 5i is shown in Fig. 1 as havingan inclined portion 52 so that wheel barrows may be used to convey thegravel into the hopper.

A ball 53 on the hopper has a cable 54 connected therewith by which thehopper is raised and lowered. A davlt 56'is carried upon a trunnion 51on the back end of the truck between the gravel drums and this davltcarries suitable pulleys so as to guide the cable 54 to a suitable blockand tackle arrangement, not shown.

The support 51 upon which the davlt 56 is mounted may be foldedbackwardly so that it extends over the truck and reduces the overallheight of the apparatus. The davlt 58 is arranged to turn about thevertical axis in the support 51 and can be moved by a handle 61 whichextends from the davit.

In this manner after the hopper is hoisted it may be turned to eitherside so' that the tapered lower portion 68 thereof may be lowered intothe tapered flange 42 to insure deposit ,of the gravel into the drum.

When the gravel is exhausted from one of the drums, of course the drumwill be filled with liquid and when a new deposit of gravel is introduced into the drum the liquid will be displaced and an outlet pipe IDhas been shown extending from the top 43 of the drum as best seen inFig. 2. A quick opening valve 12 is provided on this outlet because asthe gravel drops from the hop-' per into the drum there will be a largevolume of water displaced. This outlet"!!! is directed downwardly andterminates at 13 to direct the liquid on the ground.

If desired, a Support or screw jack 15 may be hinged at 16 on the baseof the drum so that it may be moved around to a vertical position andextended so as to support the load of liquid and gravel carried by thedrums during the gravelling operation. Brackets 11 normally hold thejack in the position seen in Fig. 1.

Broadly, the invention contemplates a simple and economical portablegraveling equipment which is arranged to speedily introduce a flow ofliquid and gravel into a well bore under pressure.

What is claimed is:

In a surface equipment for well graveling including a pair of spaceddrums, a pump to circulate liquid, a pipe to receive such liquid, avalve in said pipe, a branch pipe from a point in said first pipe at theupstream side of said valve and leading to each of said drums, a valvein each branch pipe to control the flow therethrough, a discharge pipefrom each drum to said first pipe beyond said first valve, and valvemeans in each discharge pipe, said pipe, piping and valves being soconstructed and arranged that liquid may be circulated past said drums,

into and out of either or both drums, and directedpartly through eitherdrum and partly through the pipe in order to control the rate ofdischarge of gravel from, said drums.

' LESLIE A. LAYNE.

